Those unfortunates (hnix, for one) who have heard me rant on and on (and on...) about how much I loathed where S3 of Angel went, and what they did to the characters, knows I had some serious issues with the show. S4 has been ok, but only really started to kick into gear once they started to explain some of my problems, exactly how I wanted them to!

The S3 dvds of Angel are being released in March, and they've got audio commentary for 'Billy", "Lullaby" and "Waiting in the Wings".

"Billy" is vile, "Waiting in the Wings" is one of the single worst episode of Angel or Buffyever, and I can't even remember "Lullaby", but it's part of the (yawn) baby-arc.

I mean, if you're gonna try and justify and explain away your crap, try "Tomorrow". Sweet lord, people. I don't know about the other seasons of Angel, but on the Buffy dvds, they tend to do commentarie on the GOOD episodes. I know that's hard with S3, but you could at least try,

Really enjoyed the last few eps of the season, and overall, I give a thumbs up to S6. Am kinda looking forward to the finale for Angel, it sounds craptacular and mucho worthy for mocking. Came across a brilliant post on TWoP of something Joss Whedon posted about S7 of Buffy (some spoilers for finale).

"Buffy" was good this week, Willow and Tara were absolutely adorable (which is possibly without being saccharine, apparently a lesson the "Angel" writers haven't learnt).

"The West Wing" was very good, though I cringed through some of Sam's stuff (painful, but not in a crappy way), but was happy he got screen time.

"Angel" was better than last week. Which is damning with faint praise. My sister is probably going to refuse to watch it with me anymore, due to my stream of abuse directed at most of the characters. Everyone but Wesley and Groo are on my shit list. Even Lilah ( because )

Ok, I'm very close to giving up on "Angel". Watching a once-favourite show shouldn't make me disappointed and depressed. Am considering going and reading spoilers to see if there's any reason to stick around.

On the bright side, West Wing was quite enjoyable. My snarkier version of the 4 words - Fitzwallace is a Republican.

I was discussing this with sinbrat last night. Not parallel's so much in terms of specific characters or storylines, but in quality and the lack thereof.

This is all my opinion, and my reactions to them, naturally.

Both shows had a very strong first season (when so often first seasons have teething problems), with a very high number of rewatchable eps.

Both shows ditched a character that was in the S1 opening credits (Doyle and Mandy).

Both shows had mixed success with S2. WW started very strongly (ITSOTG), but got crappy for a while, before coming good. In Angel's case it was a up and down the whole way through. Both have problems in that they build up storylines well, but don't resolve them well/wrap them up too quickly. Angel is particularly bad at this (see Dar.

Both shows have had a marked downturn in S3. They're still watchable, but there's less substance to them. Rather than being caught up in an ep, I'll be enjoying it for the little things. And episode shouldn't be made enjoyable by Russell Crowe jokes and slashy moments, while the rest of the plot has me going 'what the fuck?' They should be the icing, not the sum total of good stuff.

The actors are still giving their all, but the writing is just not up to scratch on either show.

Both shows have had new female characters (whom most people don't like) thrust into the cast and into uninteresting relationships with a lead male (which is boring most fans). Other relationships, especially slashy ones, have been reduced/virtually eliminated.

Aaron Sorkin is an arrogant asshole. I'm not so sure about Greenwalt and Minear.

Good "West Wing" last night (once Nine eventually showed it). In one of life's fun little coincidences, I was pondering various WW thoughts, including Sam/Josh-ness, put the radio on, and the Linkin Park song that was used in a Sam/Josh songvid was playing. Well, I found it amusing.

No "Angel" ep though, so my brain filled in with a Buffy-verse dream that had people sailing to places to fight other people, wacky adventures in Hong Kong, bush fires, and many other things I can't clearly remember now. Wesley and Spike got all the good lines though, I do remember that :)

No "Angel" this week due to unnecessary coverage of Queen Mum's funeral. Unnecessary because ABC and Nine are doing it live, so the point of Seven's delayed highlights eludes me. And this means NSW and QLD will be six days behind the southern states with Angel, rather than 1 day in front. They don't miss the AFL show that's on Tuesday night though, of course not, the funeral is after that.